The "Can I Run Planet Coaster" thread

[androgynousamoeba]

Hopefully the computer still works and you can start it up and install a program to find out what the CPU, GPU, Motherboard and ram is there. One that I'm familiar with is CPU-Z. Here is a download link: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html . I'd recommend downloading the ZIP version -- you can unzip it somewhere and just doubleclick the cpu_x32 or cpu_x64 file to run the software. The ZIP version won't install anything on your computer.

CPU-Z has information tabs that will tell you what the CPU, Mainboard(Motherboard), Ram, and GPU is. Then you can tell us those and we can advise you if you have a good upgrade path. Knowing the Power Supply can also help us, you'll need to open up the computer case to find the label.

This is what 4 of the tabs look like in the application for my computer:
http://adambavier.com/photos/random/computer_info_2016_0624.jpg

So my CPU: Intel Xeon X5670
Motherboard: Asustek P6T Deluxe
Memory: DDR3 48 GBytes
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4870 --- Trying to upgrade this one myself, but can't find any of the new Nvidia cards in stock.
Power Supply: Corsair HX620

Knowing those 4 or 5 items will help us help you.

Edit: Also, what version of Windows is the computer running? Did your Dad use the Windows serial for a new computer, if not you may be able to update it to Windows 10 for free (That would be the best case for you.)

It's Windows XP. We actually tried starting it up to see what the specs are, but the hard drive seems to be faulty so it wouldn't even boot up [sad]. To be able to use it it looks like I'd have to replace pretty much everything. Might be able to repurpose some of the more minor parts or at least use the tower case, but considering how old it is most of the main parts (cpu, hard drive, motherboard, etc.) are probably out of date. Oh well. [downcast]

 

[Gjohnlue]

So tonight I bit the bullet. Thanks Frontier! Haa Haa! Ugh… I can’t believe I’m seriously upgrading my system for this game. It’s been about… 4-5 years so I guess it’s about time. Just laid out around $650.00 tonight. Hope to get this in before the holiday. My old system wasn’t a pooch, but this game was really taxing EVERYTHING. The CPU was ALWAYS maxed and the GPU was around 40-50% most of the time.
New Parts:
AMD FX-9590 4.7GHz 8 Core
ASRock 990FX Extreme 9 Motherboard
Anarchy X 32GB DDR3 PC3 19200 memory
Corsair Hydro Series H80i Liquid Cooler (Took a long time to make sure this one would work. I only had room for a single radiator but finally got the final word from AMD themselves… Yay!)
Termaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W 80 Plus Gold.

Reused Parts:
AMD Radeon HD 7950 PCIE (x2 Crossfire) (I know this is an older card, but damn if this doesn’t beat some of these newer higher end cards in benchmarks!)
Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium PCIE
WinTV TV-HVR2250 TV Tuner Card PCIE
Micron M500 480GB SATA SSD
Seagate Pipeline HD 2TB
WH16NS40 Blu-Ray Burner - SATA
LG DH16ZAASH DVD Burner – SATA

Retired Parts:
AMD Phenom II x6 1035T 2.60GHz Processor
ASRock 890FX Deluxe 4 Motherboard
Corsair TX750 Power Supply
PNY 16GB DDR3 PC3-10600

I mean the things I’m retiring were not THAT bad, but all 6 cores were maxed even sitting still without any camera movement at all. After about 6 rides and a TON of park buildings, it was lagging but playable. But if I go much more, it’s going to be playing in slow motion. Honestly, I think it slowed down considerably once I added the water jet special effects to create a few waterfalls and so on. If it wouldn’t be a total pain in the butt I would try to remove them but they are so well embedded into rocks and land, I would have to delete a ton of things just to get to them. Not going to happen. So I’ll just have to continue to suspect it’s the water effects that’s killing my game right now. Now I play the waiting game to get this new stuff in, built and get back to this game!

This is what my park looks like. Not all THAT big, but a lot of detail for what I did do. It’s not a big park right now, but if I’m going to grow this, this upgrade is a MUST!!! Right now it’s playable. Sort of. If I continue it’s going to be painful to play. I truly want to know how much this game wants to gobble up before it’s happy!!! I can only hope that this is not at ALL optimized. That because it’s an Alpha it’s killing system resources and the final product will run great on even lower specs then I’ll ultimately end up with. One can only hope… This game is just awesome all around…

 

[gregorburns]

So tonight I bit the bullet. Thanks Frontier! Haa Haa! Ugh… I can’t believe I’m seriously upgrading my system for this game. It’s been about… 4-5 years so I guess it’s about time. Just laid out around $650.00 tonight. Hope to get this in before the holiday. My old system wasn’t a pooch, but this game was really taxing EVERYTHING. The CPU was ALWAYS maxed and the GPU was around 40-50% most of the time.
New Parts:
AMD FX-9590 4.7GHz 8 Core
ASRock 990FX Extreme 9 Motherboard
Anarchy X 32GB DDR3 PC3 19200 memory
Corsair Hydro Series H80i Liquid Cooler (Took a long time to make sure this one would work. I only had room for a single radiator but finally got the final word from AMD themselves… Yay!)
Termaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W 80 Plus Gold.

Reused Parts:
AMD Radeon HD 7950 PCIE (x2 Crossfire) (I know this is an older card, but damn if this doesn’t beat some of these newer higher end cards in benchmarks!)
Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium PCIE
WinTV TV-HVR2250 TV Tuner Card PCIE
Micron M500 480GB SATA SSD
Seagate Pipeline HD 2TB
WH16NS40 Blu-Ray Burner - SATA
LG DH16ZAASH DVD Burner – SATA

Retired Parts:
AMD Phenom II x6 1035T 2.60GHz Processor
ASRock 890FX Deluxe 4 Motherboard
Corsair TX750 Power Supply
PNY 16GB DDR3 PC3-10600

I mean the things I’m retiring were not THAT bad, but all 6 cores were maxed even sitting still without any camera movement at all. After about 6 rides and a TON of park buildings, it was lagging but playable. But if I go much more, it’s going to be playing in slow motion. Honestly, I think it slowed down considerably once I added the water jet special effects to create a few waterfalls and so on. If it wouldn’t be a total pain in the butt I would try to remove them but they are so well embedded into rocks and land, I would have to delete a ton of things just to get to them. Not going to happen. So I’ll just have to continue to suspect it’s the water effects that’s killing my game right now. Now I play the waiting game to get this new stuff in, built and get back to this game!

This is what my park looks like. Not all THAT big, but a lot of detail for what I did do. It’s not a big park right now, but if I’m going to grow this, this upgrade is a MUST!!! Right now it’s playable. Sort of. If I continue it’s going to be painful to play. I truly want to know how much this game wants to gobble up before it’s happy!!! I can only hope that this is not at ALL optimized. That because it’s an Alpha it’s killing system resources and the final product will run great on even lower specs then I’ll ultimately end up with. One can only hope… This game is just awesome all around…

http://i.imgur.com/iVGOYwe.jpg

The game will run much better with your upgraded machine but bear in mind that you will still probably have maxed oyt CPU usage since the game tries to use as much asnit has available anyway, as mentioned in the Shard Vision livestream. [happy]

 

[Bergenia Tanoak]

It's Windows XP. We actually tried starting it up to see what the specs are, but the hard drive seems to be faulty so it wouldn't even boot up [sad]. To be able to use it it looks like I'd have to replace pretty much everything. Might be able to repurpose some of the more minor parts or at least use the tower case, but considering how old it is most of the main parts (cpu, hard drive, motherboard, etc.) are probably out of date. Oh well. [downcast]

I'm sorry to hear that. Are you or a friend willing to install the new components, or do you need to bring it to a shop?

So tonight I bit the bullet. Thanks Frontier! Haa Haa! Ugh… I can’t believe I’m seriously upgrading my system for this game. It’s been about… 4-5 years so I guess it’s about time. Just laid out around $650.00 tonight. Hope to get this in before the holiday. My old system wasn’t a pooch, but this game was really taxing EVERYTHING. The CPU was ALWAYS maxed and the GPU was around 40-50% most of the time.
New Parts:
AMD FX-9590 4.7GHz 8 Core
ASRock 990FX Extreme 9 Motherboard
Anarchy X 32GB DDR3 PC3 19200 memory
Corsair Hydro Series H80i Liquid Cooler (Took a long time to make sure this one would work. I only had room for a single radiator but finally got the final word from AMD themselves… Yay!)
Termaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W 80 Plus Gold.

.....snip....
This is what my park looks like. Not all THAT big, but a lot of detail for what I did do. It’s not a big park right now, but if I’m going to grow this, this upgrade is a MUST!!! Right now it’s playable. Sort of. If I continue it’s going to be painful to play. I truly want to know how much this game wants to gobble up before it’s happy!!! I can only hope that this is not at ALL optimized. That because it’s an Alpha it’s killing system resources and the final product will run great on even lower specs then I’ll ultimately end up with. One can only hope… This game is just awesome all around…

http://i.imgur.com/iVGOYwe.jpg

I wish you well in your upgrade to a faster system. May it be as fast as you want.[yesnod]

Nice looking park. I like the layout you have going.

 

[dancer79]

I can't afford to upgrade CPU as now I have a i7 920 2.67 system .......
Under site can I I t planet coaster it have me 7 of 10 and who knows when optimized maybe they will do something for lower end CPUs as a lot of systems out there are still around what I have. I know cpu is not most important thing but other components are 24 gigs of ram the max system will hold and I got a great deal on nvidoa 970 4gb video card. Any input on how game will do for me .....

 

[Gjohnlue]

The game will run much better with your upgraded machine but bear in mind that you will still probably have maxed oyt CPU usage since the game tries to use as much asnit has available anyway, as mentioned in the Shard Vision livestream. [happy]

Oh good god... I didn't notice that before. I was upgrading with the hopes it would not peg out. Jesus. I do hope that is something that will change in the final release. Even with my older video cards, they max out around 50-60% during heavy play, but the CPU... That is just maxed from the moment I open the game until I close it. Even if I have the game paused. Still MAX. I do hope this is fixed or at least looked into. I have games that have so much more going on in them, more detail and what have you that barely peeks the CPU at around 60% so I have to believe that this game is in no way optimized at all. If it is, then this game is going to suffer because most won't be able to even play it. I mean my old machine wasn't THAT bad but I was in need of a new CPU anyway so I decided to pull out the moldy money I put aside for machine upgrades and take the jump. Has Frontier ever come right out and said that the hungry CPU and maxed levels was due to it being an Alpha and they will address that later on? Or is that all speculation right now from us? I know they said it's because of it trying to use everything possible, but that can also mean it's not managed so it's a free for all grab what you can and no actual management of the resources. I'll kind of be upset if this is going to be how the final game is as well. Not everyone on the planet will either have or can afford the higher end machines so they would stand to lose a lot if that were the case. Just my two cents... I HOPE this is just a being an ALPHA instance and the final will be tweaked to be actually sane in it's resource use. Looking at my system right now. Game is playing. All 6 cores are at 95-100% My memory use is between 8 and 10GB and my GPU is at 67%. So clearly this is a CPU hog, so I do hope that will be address and maybe offload the CPU to use up more memory or more GPU to accomplish what they need. Crossing fingers.

 

[gregorburns]

Oh good god... I didn't notice that before. I was upgrading with the hopes it would not peg out. Jesus. I do hope that is something that will change in the final release. Even with my older video cards, they max out around 50-60% during heavy play, but the CPU... That is just maxed from the moment I open the game until I close it. Even if I have the game paused. Still MAX. I do hope this is fixed or at least looked into. I have games that have so much more going on in them, more detail and what have you that barely peeks the CPU at around 60% so I have to believe that this game is in no way optimized at all. If it is, then this game is going to suffer because most won't be able to even play it. I mean my old machine wasn't THAT bad but I was in need of a new CPU anyway so I decided to pull out the moldy money I put aside for machine upgrades and take the jump. Has Frontier ever come right out and said that the hungry CPU and maxed levels was due to it being an Alpha and they will address that later on? Or is that all speculation right now from us? I know they said it's because of it trying to use everything possible, but that can also mean it's not managed so it's a free for all grab what you can and no actual management of the resources. I'll kind of be upset if this is going to be how the final game is as well. Not everyone on the planet will either have or can afford the higher end machines so they would stand to lose a lot if that were the case. Just my two cents... I HOPE this is just a being an ALPHA instance and the final will be tweaked to be actually sane in it's resource use. Looking at my system right now. Game is playing. All 6 cores are at 95-100% My memory use is between 8 and 10GB and my GPU is at 67%. So clearly this is a CPU hog, so I do hope that will be address and maybe offload the CPU to use up more memory or more GPU to accomplish what they need. Crossing fingers.

It's not something that will be fixed, I maybe didn't explain it right there, the game is designed to use as much of your CPU as it possibly can, they explained that in a recent livestream. Its not damaging to your CPU and nor should it be a problem to the rest of your computer, it just makes use of the cores that are sitting idle so that the simulation can work to its full advantage.

 

[aDOLPHINjoy18]

My advise is invest in a custom desktop PC with high end hardware. I did this 3 months ago. My desktop system has Intel's flagship 6th gen Intel Core i7-6700k processor. It has 4 cores, 8 threads, hyperthreading, and a high base speed of 4Ghz. I recommend a QUAD code processor, not just 2 cores 4 threads kind of thing. Intel is making multi-core processors with like 8 cores 16 threads etc, but it's not only the amount of cores you processor has which matters, but also the CLOCK SPEED of those cores. And the 6700k has a HIGH 4Ghz clock speed with turbo boost to 4.2Ghz, and it can be overclocked. More cores are good for multitasking, but in a game like this one, CPU speed is beneficial. When playing this game in 1080p High settings, Windows 10 Task Manager says my 6700k is only 88-90% utilized.

My system also has a Sapphire Nitro (back plate version) overclocked AMD Radeon R9 390 which has a bandwidth of 384GB/s (that's more than the GTX 980) and 512-bit bus (bigger bus than the GTX 980). But the GTX 980 is rated a bit higher than the R9 on GPUBoss, but the R9 is rated above the GTX 970, because only 3.5GB out of the 4GB from the GTX 970 is fast memory, the remanding 0.5GB is slow memory, where as the R9 390 has 8GB of memory to play with.

I think Frontier may have this game more better optimized for when the completed version comes out later this year. I've heard several big Youtubers comment how they're running really good hardware like 2x GTX 980 and an i7 processor and are still running into lag. I think Frontier should keep the AI part of the game assigned to the CPU. My R9 390 Sapphire has a GPU clock speed of about 1.4Ghz. I think that new GTX 1080 has a GPU Clock Speed of like about 1.5-2Ghz. Where as I have a quad core i7 6700k with a HIGHER clock speed of 4-4.2Ghz. My advise is invest in a custom desktop PC. Yes it will break your budget, but the hardware will bring out better game performance. My system can run The Sims 4 in Ultra 1080p @ a comfortable 60fps. But my R9 390 plays this game in 1080p High around the mid 20s to 30s fps on a detailed park with 4200 population.

PC games now days require higher PC specs, maybe because gamers want better quality games. I was watching this video from linus tec or something, about why have a CPU and GPU? Can't the CPU handle it? AMD does make APU's which have this kind of thing. But a CPU is like the brain and central processor of a PC. Where GPU's are experts with video/gaming stuff. But a processor like a human brain can multi-task. And in my opinion, and a lot of peps would agree with this, is that Intel out of AMD makes the better CPU's. A CPU can do A LOT of things, so it is important to choose a really good CPU for gaming. Even the i5-6200u processor on my HP 15' laptop 100% maxes out when playing games. It's because it has a low clock speed of 2.3Ghz with turbo boost to only 2.69Ghz according to Windows 10 Task Manager. It also only has 2 cores and 4 threads, even though it's part of the 6th gen family from Intel. I'd also recommend a 6th gen i5/i7 rather than a 5th gen or earlier from Intel, as 6th gen processors are a newer technology. When playing The Sims 4 on Ultra maxed settings in 1080p @ 60fps, Windows 10 Task Manager says my CPU is only 30% utlilized. I have to say my 6700k has a really good 'brain' since CPU's are like the human brain I read it on Wikipedia. If the GPU is stressing the CPU can step in and help with processing it. When choosing GPUs, I think the "GPU Clock Speed" is also important. Even the GTX 1080 only has a 1.5-2Ghz GPU Clock Speed. Where as even many CPU's have above that in Ghz clock speed like 2-3Ghz clock speed. And CPU's are really good at handling arithmetic's and the heart/brain kind of stuff of PC's.

 

[androgynousamoeba]

I'm sorry to hear that. Are you or a friend willing to install the new components, or do you need to bring it to a shop?

It's alright. I'm definitely more than willing to learn how to build it myself. I have a few people who'd be willing help me out if need be.

 

[millennium_Force]

I am getting a new computer and just wanted to check the graphics to make sure they were strong enough:

FirePro W4190M / HD Graphics 520

Thank you in advance!

 

[Bergenia Tanoak]

I am getting a new computer and just wanted to check the graphics to make sure they were strong enough:

FirePro W4190M / HD Graphics 520

Thank you in advance!

You will be unhappy with that FirePro W4190M. The current recommended minimum is a AMD 7850 or Nvidia GTX 560. The 7850 is about 3 times faster than the FirePro W4190M based on the Google searches I just did trying to figure out how they compared in benchmarks. It is just significantly below the minimum. [sad]

 

[aDOLPHINjoy18]

^ Hes right. Intel HD 520 can only play this game at 1920x1080 High with only ONE FRAME RATE PER SECOND making it unplayable. My HP 15ab222tx has Intel HD 520 and even the AMD R7 M360 out performs it. I do have a high end custom desktop pc which I dedicate for PC gaming.

 

[Bergenia Tanoak]

^ Hes right. Intel HD 520 can only play this game at 1920x1080 High with only ONE FRAME RATE PER SECOND making it unplayable. My HP 15ab222tx has Intel HD 520 and even the AMD R7 M360 out performs it. I do have a high end custom desktop pc which I dedicate for PC gaming.

That computer he is looking to buy has dual graphics "FirePro W4190M / HD Graphics 520" means that there is both the FirePro and the 520. The FirePro is faster than the 520, but is still way too too slow for Planet Coaster.

It has been said before that you are buying a new system to consider a graphics card that is at least the Nvidia 960 about $180 (The newest Nvidia 1060 card was just leaked, and people are guessing it'll be coming out in a month or two). AMD just released the new 480 GPU card for $200 that would work excellently (Better than the Nvidia 960). An Intel i5 or i7 processor 3Ghz+, or a recent AMD 6 to 8 core clocked at 4GHz+ is also needed. I'd go for Intel and target a 4GHz processor if you are buying a new desktop system. This game is made to scale to your hardware, so will adjust the detail of the simulation to fit your hardware's abilities. So you'll get a better detailed guest movement, and graphics detailing with better hardware.

New laptop buyers should keep an eye out for laptops coming out with the new Nvidia Pascal graphics cards. The newest Nvidia Pascal technology in the desktop GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 cards is fast with even lower power useage than last generation, so the laptop versions should do very well. If you need to buy a laptop right now, strongly consider one with the Nvidia 980M graphics. Laptops are always a compromise though, and you'll certainly get more for your money if you buy a desktop, but you'll lose the portability.

Both AMD and Nvidia are releasing new graphics cards right now. Now really isn't the best time to be buying a new computer if you can wait. Now might be a good time to pick up used last generation GPU cards if you are willing to build your own desktop, but requires someone with skills on deciphering what is a good deal, since a lot of cards were sold with either no overclock or with a 25%+ speed overclock and you need to know what you are buying.

 

[IronWolf98]

Hi there! I'm looking forward to this game, but am holding off until the official release (at least for now). Not sure how my computer holds-up to the requirements though:

Intel Core i74700MQ Processor @ 2.4 GHz
Windows 8.1,
8GB DDR3L 1600MHz memory
3GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M with Optimus Technology

I have no idea what any of that means, so am appreciative for any help with ud=nderstanding if I can run the game. Thanks in advance!

 

[Bergenia Tanoak]

Hi there! I'm looking forward to this game, but am holding off until the official release (at least for now). Not sure how my computer holds-up to the requirements though:

Intel Core i74700MQ Processor @ 2.4 GHz
Windows 8.1,
8GB DDR3L 1600MHz memory
3GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M with Optimus Technology

I have no idea what any of that means, so am appreciative for any help with ud=nderstanding if I can run the game. Thanks in advance!

Your laptop meets the minimum requirements. Your 770m seams to be equivalent to the recommended GTX 560. http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-770M-vs-GeForce-GTX-560-Ti.

Make site to buy the Planet Coaster release for $29 now before it goes up in price. See the store for information.

 

[DDSMAN1]

Does anyone have a GeForce 950m? How does it perform with big parks on high settings?

 

[dancer79]

Ok
I need your thoughts
I can't buy new computer now as I have a ton of debt for other reasons right now

I was able to do the following:

I have Intel I7 1st generation as computer is 6 yrs old and its 2.67 GHz processor
I have 24 gigs of ram
and I just got on sale as it was over 100 off and rebate in addition and got the Nividia MSI Geforce GTX 970 4 GB graphics card. Was not going to buy as it needs 500 watt power supply but I have 475 but clerk at store said if I didn't have the right power supply monitor wouldn't turn on and it did and when you need that 500 power supply is when your running high and max setting and planet coaster is high game for requirements, but not that high.

You think game will work awesome with large parks as I love to build a8 coasters + and rides with detail.

Let me know.

 

[Harbinger]

Ok
I need your thoughts
I can't buy new computer now as I have a ton of debt for other reasons right now

I was able to do the following:

I have Intel I7 1st generation as computer is 6 yrs old and its 2.67 GHz processor
I have 24 gigs of ram
and I just got on sale as it was over 100 off and rebate in addition and got the Nividia MSI Geforce GTX 970 4 GB graphics card. Was not going to buy as it needs 500 watt power supply but I have 475 but clerk at store said if I didn't have the right power supply monitor wouldn't turn on and it did and when you need that 500 power supply is when your running high and max setting and planet coaster is high game for requirements, but not that high.

You think game will work awesome with large parks as I love to build a8 coasters + and rides with detail.

Let me know.

The clerk is right that a 500W PSU is recommended but the graphics card itself will max out at 213W when being pushed it's absolute limits (average usage is around 163W). It really depends on how many other things are being powered as to whether you'll reach the limits of your 475W PSU. In all likelihood it'll be sufficient although you'd probably be wise to think about upgrading your PSU in the future.

 

[DDSMAN1]

Please reply!

 

[Bergenia Tanoak]

Does anyone have a GeForce 950m? How does it perform with big parks on high settings?

You are a little bit under the minimum required performance of the GTX 560. Here is a website that does comparisons: 950M vs GTX 560 at GPUBOSS. The 950M is a mobile graphics chip (denoted by the M) and they always run slower than the desktop cards.

Maybe someone with a 950M will reply. I'm sure it'll work as long as you keep the number of guests lower by not adding tons of rides - every ride right now adds 200 guests. So focus on scenery and making your rollercoasters and surrounding park as awesome as possible. Maybe with future performance improvements your computer will do OK with more guests.

You don't say what your CPU, Ram or graphics memory is. The CPU plays a big role in the number of guests your park can have at the moment.